John Berger and Susan Sontag
Two powerhouse visual culture critics face off
I’m in Los Angeles on a work trip this week, so I’ve been soaking up some Vitamin D as another snowstorm approaches Madison. I know sometimes less is more, but I felt compelled to send a note today, and I thought I’d leave you with something meaty to think about as we head into the weekend.
So many of you commented on Peter Hoffman’s essay on punctum, artificial intelligence, and photography last week that I wanted to flag it again for those who missed it. There are some terrific comments, so make some time to read those, too. Y’all are so thoughtful — I really appreciate that.
One of those comments led me to this excellent discussion between two giants of visual culture, John Berger and Susan Sontag, and I wanted to make sure more of you saw it. Their conversation was featured as an episode of Voices, a 1983 televised “forum for debate about issues in the arts and the life of the mind.”
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts. Let me know what you think in the comments. Have a great weekend, folks, and take care!
Those two, Barthes, Hannah Arendt "Society and Culture", Moholy-Nagy "Vision in Motion", John Collier Jr. "Visual Anthropology", Robert Adams "Why People Photograph", Wright Morris "Time Pieces", Wilson Hicks "Words and Pictures", Marshall McLuhan "Understanding Media", Bill Owens "Documentary Photography", Michael Lesy "Time Frames"...on and on. I was self taught and my 300+ photo books, mostly all used from remainders, library book sales, yard sales, were 33.33% of my photo education. I had no mentors or family that led me to those books. All of it was either instinct, random, or references from other books. The other 66.66% involved shooting, lectures, museums, etcetera. But the ideas in these books gave me the confidence to know that I was on the right path. When I showed my portfolios in NYC to 12 photo agencies and mags in my seventh year as a news/documentary photog, I was ready. Signed an AP contract and was able to submit to Sygma Photo, then left for the Johannesburg Mail & Guardian and I was never coming back. The ideas in these books were my foundation. I'd guess that the majority of our species is visually illiterate. It's as important as verbal literacy and it can and should be taught. Without quality critique, discipline is unmoored and craft is unchecked. I'm not talking about some Academy concept. Sontag, especially in "On Regarding the Pain of Others" keeps the keel even as to why bother photographing anything. She defines the why which for her is the obverse of self-absorption and more than merely "writing with light". It's the relationship and responsibility of the photographer to the photographed and the reader--no matter the genre.
The perfect cure for insomnia. Two self-absorbed academics whose whole existence is based on criticizing and opining on the creativity of others. Boring! Much like Sontag's "On Photography", I could not sit through more than a third of this video. And I tried to get through her book 3 times before donating it to Goodwill. Most exhibiting photographers I know have said the same thing about "On Photography." Sorry, I may not be an acclaimed academic, and merely just another photographer, but that's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.